Cate Blanchett Inspired By Al Gore

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:30:00 -0000

Australian actress Cate Blanchett has opened up about being inspired by Al Gore and the way he helped her become a warrior for the Environment.

“We all know the facts about dangerous climate change,” she told Mindfood magazine in Australia. "It’s very easy to shift from despair to suicidal depression in the wake of that information.

“In 2006 the inspirational Al Gore came out to ignite the Climate Project (TCP), which is generously supported by the ACF, where citizens from all walks of life in Australia are indoctrinated and empowered with the information [and a version of the slide show featured in Gore’s documentary film] An Inconvenient Truth to go out into their communities and spread the word.

“He trained 70 people then [in Sydney]. My husband and I went. We went as citizens and we went as concerned parents. We wanted to do something with our anxiety and to turn our anxiety into action. We were so inspired by the passion of the people doing the training, who were obviously inspired by Al Gore himself. It was the individuals [attending] who were then asking pertinent and specific questions about climate change and had the passion to go back and communicate to their communities.

Blanchett helped launch the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Who On Earth Cares campaign, which aims to inspire people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians. She has also filmed a special appeal for SolarAid that can be viewed on YouTube.

“I think there is an opportunity in climate change. We all know the depressing facts but there is also the opportunity to re-ignite that sense of community. We are a very big, vast country and we forget that we have individual concerns in our communities, which are made up of individuals who all vote and all consume. We are all consumers and if we change the way we consume and think in our communities we can have an enormously powerful effect on governments that need to be lobbied and on the big polluters who need to be shamed into action. But it is the grassroots action where the real opportunity in climate change lies.”

2008 Golden Globes Roundup

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:54:19 -0000

Written by Crystal A. Johnson

There may have been no red carpet, acceptance speeches, or flash of cameras for the winners of the 2008 Golden Globe Awards, but Look To The Stars takes this golden opportunity to recognize some of those who were honored and nominated.

Johnny Depp won his first Golden Globe after being nominated seven times since his career began, picking up the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical award for Sweeney Todd. Despite his dark performance, there really is a lighter side to the actor. In the past, Depp’s charitable work garnered him the Courage to Care Award for his contributions to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

The Best Actress Award went to veteran Julie Christie, who was up against heavyweights such as Angelina Jolie, an outstanding supporter and contributor to charitable causes. Some of the charities she has supported include the Afghanistan Relief Organization, the Alliance For The Lost Boys, Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer Movement, Doctors Without Borders, and the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor for his performance in “There Will Be Blood”, beating out celebrity humanitarians George Clooney and Denzel Washington. Like Jolie, Clooney is a major force in trying to make the world a better place, and he is a noted supporter of Cinema For Peace, Make Poverty History, Rock For Darfur, United Way, and the World Food Programme. Washington has spent time visiting wounded soldiers at Fisher Houses, hospitals which provide housing for injured soldiers’ families at little or no cost, and once made a large donation to the Fisher House Foundation. He is also the spokesperson for the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America, honorary chairperson for Save Africa’s Children, and a founding member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Australian-born Cate Blanchett took home the gold in the category for Best Supporting Actress. Charities Blanchett supports include the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kids Help Line, and SolarAid. In the past, Blanchett filmed a special appeal for SolarAid that was screened at the Hay Festival. The video is available to view on YouTube.

Queen Latifah took home the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries, for her role in “Life Support”. A supporter of several charities, Queen Latifah once helped design a pair of shoes for the Stuart Weitzman charity shoe auction benefiting ovarian cancer awareness and research, and has been involved with Citymeals On Wheels and the Harry Holmberg Memorial Foundation.

Jeremy Piven beat his “Entourage” co-star Kevin Dillon to win his second award for Best Supporting TV Actor. Piven once hosted the fourth annual Fashion Rocks event, which benefited Alicia Keys’ Keep A Child Alive Foundation.

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees for all the work that you do in front of the camera and behind the scenes to inspire a better world.

Look To The Stars News: Australian Conservation Foundation

Cate Blanchett Inspired By Al Gore

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2008 Golden Globes Roundup

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